Porto & Madeira GUSTATIO, Sintra 2018

Bar do Binho, Sintra

THE AMAZING “GUSTATIO” OF PAULO CRUZ.

For those who do not know, Paulo Cruz is the owner of Bar do Binho, in Sintra, a classic wine house that has recently completed 90 years of existence.

Paulo is an important figure in the Portuguese wine scene, an incredible enthusiast and, one might say, a benefactor of Portuguese wines, especially when fortified (especially old!), For the work he has done in his dissemination and sharing, giving many ordinary mortals the opportunity to taste true nectars of the gods … Under his auspices, he has held fantastic events dedicated to these wines, such as Porto Extravaganza or Madeira Wine Experience.

The first edition of “Porto & Madeira Gustatio” took place on 20th January at the beautiful Tivoli Palácio de Seteias Hotel in Sintra, and the aim was to find gastronomic harmonization between Ports and Madeira (some of them very old) and dishes specially designed by 5 Chefs from the Tivoli chain to accompany them.

According to the information note that we received at the beginning of the competition, “Gustatio” (pronounced “gustati”) was how rich Romans called the custom of anticipating dinner with alcoholic drinks and various snacks to the sound of music, which occurred in the sumptuous banquets.

I confess that I went to Sintra a little apprehensive, with the guards held high. As for the wines I was rested, I knew they would all be extraordinary. But a meal of 8 dishes and 2 desserts to accompany 12 fortified (turned out to be 13!) It’s a lot …
We were greeted with a nice Champagne Mail, while we waited for everyone to arrive and chatted with old friends and we talked about our greater or lesser concerns about what was coming.

We were finally called to the start of the event, with tables marked, full of important names, including well-known journalists and gastronomic critics.

The Wines:

 

// Valriz Very Old White Dry

We hostilities began brilliantly, with probably the port that I drank that most impressed me to this day: the Valriz Very Old White Dry. It is a trilogy, with the mixture of wines from the years 1900, 1927 and 1960, and which accompanied a dish of fake scallops (they were actually trouts of French garlic) with ham slices black leg According to Paulo Cruz, this wine has 1.5 of Baumé. I have no idea how much this means in terms of residual sugar, but I can guarantee it’s low, very low! This wine is so dry that I would never guess in a blind taste that it was a Port! It is more like a Serial Wood or an Old Smell of Jerez. In fact, one of the things that worked best in harmonizing with wine was ham, a classic combination with these wines from southern Spain. Mineral and iodized, with box of matches and notes of vanilla, in addition to intense tertiary aromas of glue and honey hidden there at the end. The end of the mouth is very long, marked by notes of marzipan and nuts (nuts). What a great beginning, my God! This wine is worth every cent of about € 700 which will be the value of the bottle that was commented to the table! Who can buy it …

• Name: Valriz Very Old White Dry
• Year: 1900, 1927 and 1960 Wine Lot
• Bottled in: hull sample
• Color: Tawny White
• Grape varietie: N/D
• Alcohol Content: N/D
• Producer: Valriz
• Region: Douro
• Country: Portugal
• Price: ~700€
• Points: 95

// Blandy’s Sercial Colheita 2002 and Vasques de Carvalho Matriz

There followed a plate for 2 different wines. A semi-smoked mackerel with scallop tartar for a more obvious harmonization, a Blandy’s Sercial Harvest 2002, and then a big challenge, when joining a Port Vasques of Oak Tawny Matrix, over 80 years! The Sercial would surely be the wine less pretentious of all the proof, but one of those that presented greater gastronomic potential, no doubt. It was very well in the connection with the dish, especially with the scallop, the dryness and minerality of the wine to connect well with the sea notes of the dish. The Vasques de Carvalho is a portent of a wine, with great balance and complexity, all that is expected in a large old port. The nose is luxurious with a myriad of spices from which the cinnamon stands out, but it is incredibly complex and difficult to express in words. The intensity and complexity in the mouth are extraordinary and the end is endless. In this case, however, in terms of harmonization, the obvious (Sercial) functioned better than the more refined …

• Name: Blandy’s Sercial Colheita
• Year: 2002
• Type: Fortificado – Madeira
• Color: White
• Grape varieties: Sercial
• Teor alcoólico: N/D
• Producer: Madeira Wine Company
• Region: Madeira
• Country: Portugal
• Price: N/D
• Points: 75

• Name: Vasques de Carvalho Matriz
• Year: + 80 years
• Type: Fortified – Port
• Bottled in : hull sample
• Color: Tawny
• Grape varieties: N/A
• Alcohol Content: N/A
• Producer: Vasques de Carvalho
• Region: Douro
• Country: Portugal
• Price: N/A
• Points: 90

// Rozs Very Old White Port

Then came a very old white Port of Roz’s, also over 80 years old. To accompany, an octopus of Santa Luzia on the plate, a little rough, with sweet potatoes in textures.Here, he lost his wine. The notes of the brandy on the nose were very intense and dominated the senses also in the mouth, hiding the most delicate notes that the wine will surely have (I still managed to discover cardamom and honey). Anyway, it seemed to me a slightly unbalanced wine that disappointed . The marriage was therefore also impaired.
I learned later that this wine was one of the favorites on other tables, so it could be a bottle problem. It could, but it is strange that such a happening when we are talking about helmet samples …

• Name: Rozs Very Old White Port
• Year: + 80 years
• Type: Fortified – Port
• Bottled in: amostra de casco
• Color: Tawny White
• Grape varieties: N/D
• Alcohol Content: N/C
• Producer: Rozs
• Region: Douro
• País: Portugal
• Price: N/D
• Points: 60

// Blandy’s Frasqueira Terrantez 1977

The fifth wine was a Blandy’s Terrantez from 1977, to accompany mullet stuffed with Ika (Japanese squid) .This wine is a true portent of nature, one of those wines that we have to smell and taste already well seated, because otherwise it stimulates ?? is so violent, that we can distract ourselves, lack strength in our knees and fall …
It has a tropical profile, with stunning aromas of delicious fruit (the people of Madeira know what fruit I am talking about), being absolutely disconcerting in intensity and concentration. From the harmonization itself, I remember little. Perhaps because the wine completely ran over the delicacy of the mullet, which was, I remember, a little overcooked …

• Name: Blandy’s Frasqueira Terrantez
• Year: 1977
• Type: Fortified – Madeira
• Bottled in: 2015
• Color: White
• Grape varieties: Terrantez
• Alcohol content: 21%
• Producer: Madeira Wine Company
• Region: Madeira
• Country: Portugal
• Price: 240€
• Points: 90

// Frasqueira Verdelho 1992

Then came perhaps my favorite dish of the night: a delicious sea bass cooked to perfection (perfect cooking point, unlike the mullet we had before) and fresh mussel, in sauce of caldeirada. The harmonization with Barbeito’s 1992 Frasqueira Verdelho also worked very well! The wine (wine was perhaps a little cold) presented initially hard on the nose, closed and disconcerting.
But it improved greatly with the increase in temperature and breathing, showing the classic profile of the house, light and elegant. There must be a spice called “Bebeito,” because that’s what this wine smells like! In the mouth is then delicate, mineral, dry and … great! Great harmonization, particularly with the mussel. In my opinion, one of the highlights of the night!

• Name: Frasqueira Verdelho
• Year: 1992
• Type: Fortificado – Madeira
• Bottled in: 2013
• Color: Branco
• Grape varieties: Verdelho
• Alcohol content: 19,24%
• Producer: BarbeitoRegião: Madeira
• Country: Portugal
• Price: 160€ (500ml)
• Points:18,5

// Cockburn’s Vintage Port 1970

And behind were the starter and the fish dishes. Come now the meats and the desserts! A 15-minute break was planned, which was strategically extended beyond 30, so that diners could take a deep breath, exchange impressions and recharge batteries for the second half of the race.
We also started well with the steaks. Accompanying a Royal pigeon with excellent boiling point came an Old Vintage Port, a Cockburn’s from 1970. Despite its almost 50 years of age, it still featured ruby ​​laced in the glass. Incredibly, it also has a lot of red fruit (raspberry), well accompanied by intense spice (peppers) and some tar giving austerity. It has a fantastic balance, with minerality and elegance. The tannins are discreet, but the few that are there are very firm. Also it was not a very consensual wine to the table, but I think not by own fault. is that to change to a Vintage Port of this age after the registration that we have had, it is necessary to completely change the mental environment and you need to know what to tell and what to look for in these wines. If we prove it with the “chip” of Port Tawny it will get weird … As for harmonization, it worked well.

• Name: Cockburn’s Vintage Port
• Year: 1970
• Type: Fortified – Port
• Color: Ruby
• Grape varieties: N/D
• Alcohol content: N/D
• Producer: Cockburn’s
• Region: Douro
• Country: Portugal
• Price: ~130€
• Points: 80

// Marthau’s Vintage 2016

The harmonization continued with black pig cheeks to accompany a hull sample of what will likely be, within a few months, the Vintage Martha’s 2016. Technically, it can not yet be classified as Vintage since it has not yet undergone to the IVDP chamber of tasters. I have little doubt that it will be approved … In fact, this wine enchanted me by its potency and concentration, but at the same time by its freshness. The color is a very, very deep violet. It presents an incredible fresh aroma to macerated forest fruits, with vegetable and balsamic notes accompanying it. This olfactory experience is transported to the palate, which presents even discrete cassis / lication notes at the end. The tannins, as you would expect, are hard and vigorous. I had never tasted such a Vintage. The reasons can be several.
I have no experience in tasting these wines before they are bottled. It was also the first 2016 sample I tasted, which, it is said, will be a fantastic year. Lastly, I had never tasted any Martha’s “Vintage” (I think this will even be the first of this brand to go out to the market?). Therefore, my impression may be influenced by the youth of the wine, by the year of harvest or by the style that the house intends to implement. It will probably be a mix of 3 …

• Name: Marthau’s Vintage 2016
• Year: 2016
• Type: Fortified – Port
• Bottled in: amostra de casco
• Color: Ruby
• Grape varieties: N/A
• Alcohol content: N/A
• Producer: Martha’s
• Region: Douro
• Country: Portugal
• Price: N/A
• Points: 85

// H. M. Borges Malvasia

We continue with another great Madeira: H. M. Borges Malvasia + 40 Years.
This no longer plays me games because, fortunately, I know him very well! It is an extraordinary wine, with an absolutely incredible complexity, with a great balance between sweetness and acidity. The finish is intense, long, spicy …
I do not know what else to say. If you have the opportunity to taste this wine, do not miss it! This is a wine that I even advise to buy.
You can still buy it and for what it costs, although it is a lot, it could hardly be done better, since it is one of those wines of stratospheric level. Seriously! An excellent tribute to the fiftieth anniversary of the city of Funchal.
The harmonization was made with an excellent veal, well cooked, accompanied by barley beans to be put up for risotto, which was very interesting. I don’t remember more about the dish because, frankly, the wine has completely dominated this harmonization.

• Name: H. M. Borges Malvasia
• Year: + 40 years
• Type: Fortified – Madeira
• Color: White
• Grape varieties: Malvasia
• Alcohol content: 20%
• Producer: H. M. Borges
• Region: Madeira
• Country: Portugal
• Price: 250€
• Points: 90

// Quinta do Noval Vintage 2015

Finally, another 3 wines to accompany the desserts, both presented by Chef Gabriel Campino of Tivoli Lisboa, a rising star.
The first, based on fermented blueberries, seeks harmony through proximity to Quinta do Noval Vintage 2015.
It worked relatively well, in my opinion (it was not consensual). Although it clashed a bit with Vintage,
by the approximation of flavors, by erasing certain of the usual characteristics of the young Vintage, I ended up bringing out some elegant nuances of the end of the mouth that pleased me greatly.
Noval’s Vintage dismiss presentation and this 2015 is at the level expected of it. Elegance and pure delicacy, but framed by the extraordinary power that the Douro gives these wines.

• Name: Quinta do Noval Vintage
• Year: 2015
• Type: Fortified – Port
• Color: Ruby
• Grape varieties: N/A
• Alcohol content: 19,5%
• Producer: Quinta do Noval
• Region: Douro
• Country: Portugal
• Price: 80€
• Points: 85

// Martha’s Tawny and Reserva Velhíssima Terrantez

The second dessert, an orange and raspberry tart, harmonized with two wines: a sample of very old Martha’s Tawny hull with over 100 years and an Old Reserve of Torreão Tarrantez Wineries (as written on the bottle), re-bottled in 1958 but which, according to the information available, dates from the beginning of the eighteenth century! Martha ‘s is an extraordinary wine with a luxurious and luxurious nose, with tertiary aromas of glues and resins and then cedar and eucalyptus. Also nuts and sweet notes of honey, but without losing the austere pose. The vinegar on the first contact is pungent, but tames with time.
Mineral notes give you some elegance and delicacy. However, its intensity, concentration and potency in attacking the senses make this wine unforgettable! I have been told (lacks confirmation) that it may be sold for the illustrative value of 3000-5000Û.
Nothing that surprises me …
The “Tarrantez” of the Adegas do Torreão, in its 300 year old hauteur, is already a bit tired, with some notes of black olive / oil press to overlap with the most pleasant tertiary aromas. Behind these “rugs” there are still interesting notes of minerality and spices. Regardless of everything, it is absolutely extraordinary to be able to taste a wine from the beginning of the XVIII century and that arrives, although old, alive to the XXI century !!! I thought for myself how the World would be at that time, what would Madeira be like. How and who would be the people who made this wine and how it would never occur to them that the wine they were producing would still be appreciated 300 years later! At the beginning of the eighteenth century the world was radically different: the industrial revolution had not yet happened, Australia had not yet been officially discovered (there are those who argue that it was the Portuguese who discovered it and not Captain Cook …) and the pirate Black Beard was the terror of the Indian seas. Our country and the court of Dom Joao V lived luxuriously at the expense of the riches coming from our colony called Brazil. When, on July 4, 1776, was toasted with Madeira wine, the independence of the United States of America, it may have been with a younger wine than this.

• Name: Martha’s Tawny Muito Velho + 100 years
• Year: + 100 years
• Type: Fortified – Porto
• Bottled in: amostra de casco
• Color: Tawny
• Gape varieties: N/A
• Alcohol content: N/A
• Producer: Martha’s
• Region: Douro
• Country: Portugal
• Price: N/A
• Points: 95

• Name: Reserva Velhíssima Terrantez
• Year: N/A
• Type: Fortified – Madeira
• Re-Bottled in: 1958
• Color: Branco
• Grape varieties: Terrantez
• Alcohol content: N/A
• Producer: Adegas do Torreão
• Region: Madeira
• Country: Portugal
• Price: N/A
• Points: 75

In the end we still had a surprise: a Quinta do Vesúvio Vintage 2000 magnum. I didn’t write any tasting notes, I was already very tired. But I can say that it presented itself in a great level, with the luxurious profile that we are used to in the Vintage of this iconic Quinta do Douro.
It was a very difficult challenge, the one that Paulo Cruz proposed. In the end, I think it was overwhelmingly superseded and my initial fears, after all, had no rationale. Because of the fantastic dedication, enthusiasm and professionalism of Paulo and the extraordinary work these 5 young chefs have done to harmonize dishes with these fantastic Portuguese fortifications.

Chapeau!

w4p (FEB 2018)